EPA, U.S. Business Council Commit to Sustainable Green Projects in China, Other Parts of World, To Reduce Greenhouse Gases

(Chicago, July 31, 2007) To promote a healthy planet and the global economy, EPA and the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on international sustainable development projects in China and other parts of the globe.

The initial focus will be on China, where EPA and the BCSD will build on existing relationships with the China Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency. Specifically, the groups will collaborate in three areas:

-- Creating a sustainable strategy for cement production in China, the world’s leading producer;-- Expanding use of clean technologies to convert waste to renewable energy, and-- Implementing by-product synergy, a system that allows companies from one industrial sector to use their waste (by-products) as raw input materials for production in another sector. This simple idea has enormous potential for reducing waste and toxic emissions to air and water, as well as cutting costs.

"Promoting clean power solutions and clean energy innovations both domestically and internationally is an EPA commitment," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "Through today’s MOU signing, we're joining forces with the US BCSD to deliver an economically- and environmentally-brighter tomorrow."

Sustainable or "green" development not only protects the planet by using renewable fuel sources and less toxic chemicals, but is also proving to be very profitable for business. Green technology is creating new world-wide economic markets, reducing energy costs for consumers, and benefiting the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.

Johnson and Sabrina Watkins, chairman of the US BCSD and environmental technology manager at ConocoPhillips, launched the initiative today in Chicago by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The US BCSD is a non-profit business association and a partner organization of the World BCSD, a network of 180 companies from 30 countries.

The EPA has been a supporter of the US BCSD’s work in America for the past ten years, including its highly successful by-product synergy process, currently on display in Chicago. In this process, EPA's Region 5 Midwest Office, the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois and the Chicago Manufacturing Center are partnered with the BCSD on a synergy project that has reduced waste by more than 6,000 tons so far this year. The synergy process, which the parties plan to pursue in China, leads to the creation of new markets and resource efficiencies.